Caring Men Are Happier Than Traditional 'Macho' Men In Mexican-American Culture, Study Suggests

Researchers found two distinct views on what it means to be a gentleman or a "macho" man in the Mexican-American culture. Traditional machismo is the stereotypical masculine personification of a Mexican-American man as controlling, sexist and violent, correlated with antisocial behavior, aggressive masculinity and wishful thinking as a coping style. These men tend to have more difficulty expressing emotion. However, traditional machismo did not correlate with dominance as hypothesized. Caballerismo is a positive image of a man as the family provider who respects and cares for his family. It depicts Mexican-American men as chivalrous, nurturing and noble. These men rated higher on the social connectedness scale, saying they felt value in their family relationships and were in touch with their feelings, and the feelings of others. They also displayed more practical ways of solving their problems.